Dealing with the Devil
by AnberlinEve
Summary: Because with these two, you never really know what you're gonna get. Law x Nami oneshot and headcanon dumps. AU.
1. Type

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but a Trafalgar Law jigsaw puzzle that I sadly never had the patience or time to piece together. The song Bad Reputation is by Joan Jett.

**A/N:** UPDATE: This is a oneshot after what happens in Polarity, in this AU, Nami and Law are classmates in a Psychology elective. The reason why Law's not shell-shocked over Nami's...violent mannerisms is because he's grown used to it as an annoying classmate and he's not buried in the canon drama so he's your average psychopathic self minus the Joker baggage.

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**Type:**

"So…you don't like guys who are clingy, loud and over-the-top to the point of being obnoxious." Nojiko said, counting the points off on her fingers.

"And stupid." Nami added.

Dressed in pajamas, Nami, Nojiko and Robin were having a girl's night at Nami's apartment following her sister's call to inform her she would be in town for a couple of days. After the chitchat over life and general things had died down, the conversation soon steered into typical girl talk, which meant digging up dirty secrets and personal love lives. Or in Nami's case, her lack of one.

"So what exactly is your type? I'm curious to find out. So far, you have been going on about what you don't like. I think I've failed as an older sibling if I can't even figure out what my younger sister likes in a man. Or woman, if that's how you swing." Nojiko teased.

"Oh, I'll tell you if I'm bi. But for the record, every other guy I've been around with on a daily basis just doesn't do it for me. Ugh, why are we talking about me, why can't we talk about you two?" Nami said in exasperation.

"Because Franky and I are already engaged and Nojiko-san is dating someone back in her hometown." Robin said with a light smile. Nami huffed at her in frustration and she simply chuckled in return.

A mischievous light entered her eyes that Nami didn't like. "Hmm, I think we might be onto something if we think of it this way. The traits that Nami likes should be the opposite of the ones she doesn't. So…" Robin trailed off sharing a grin with Nojiko at the expense of Nami's dread.

"Jumpy. Loud. Over-the-top. Clingy. Stupid," Nojiko said. "Translates to calm, quiet, reserved, independent, intelligent. And didn't you mention something earlier about Luffy's crazy behaviour and overly optimistic naivety? That means someone who isn't reckless and is more of a realist. Wait, that sounds a bit like you Robin."

Nojiko stared at Nami in mock surprise and Robin laughed when Nami whacked her sister on the arm with her pillow.

Settling back down, Nami frowned a bit at what Nojiko had said earlier. "I wouldn't put it that way. Luffy's optimism is a good thing, really, and I like that he's his usual self. A thirst for adventure and a crazy side of recklessness makes life more fun anyway. He wouldn't be himself if he were any less of those things."

Robin smiled at her defense of their mutual friend. "I think we can take it that Nami appreciates some level of…wildness and reckless spontaneity in a guy without it being too extreme."

"Now that doesn't sound like Robin anymore." Nojiko remarked. Nami chose to ignore that comment.

"Wait...Doesn't Zoro fit into that criteria?" Nojiko said, turning to regard Nami in hidden appraisal. "He's as heavy a drinker as you. Not to mention he's a complete lost cause at directions and you're a walking human compass."

"Ha. Ha. Sounds like a match made in hell." Nami said with a deadpanned expression. "Come on! He's stupid – ok, maybe not as stupid as Luffy but he's kinda always lazing off somewhere and he can't hold a conversation on issues that require more than one percent of the human brain capacity, let alone the normal ten percent."

"Whoa, since when did you start learning about human physiology? Is this to up your manipulative skills even higher than they currently are?" Nojiko said teasingly.

"No! I caught Torao mentioning it once and found it interesting." Nami said and then stopped short, realizing she might have made a horrible mistake with this simple remark was going to suffer dearly for it.

"Was that all you found interesting, Nami-san?" Robin asked with an innocent smile.

"What are you implying – oh, OH. No, do not even _think_ about going there." Nami said, folding her arms in a firm stance when she saw her sister's eyes light up.

"Who is this Torao?" Nojiko asked Robin with barely concealed curiosity.

"Trafalgar Law, but Nami-san is one of the few who have taken to calling him by his nickname-" Robin began to say but was interjected by Nami.

"That's because it's easier to say! You try saying Trafalgar all the time and see how your jaw likes it. Only you can be too polite for nicknames, Robin. Plus, Luffy's the one who came up with that!" Nami said indignantly.

"Oh, so you call him all the time?" Nojiko asked.

"What – god no!" Nami yelled.

"He also matches the criteria of being calm, reserved, independent, highly intelligent, yet having that reckless, wilder side. Hm, or should I say a darker side?" Robin mused.

"Sounds kind of like the sadistic type. Interesting. Very interesting." Nojiko said, gazing at Nami's bewilderment with increasing entertainment.

"Didn't you mention once about having a thing for tall, dark, mysterious swordsmen?" Robin asked.

"That was from a samurai movie we saw! You're reading this all out of context and jumping to conclusions!" Nami exclaimed.

"Really? Then why did you two look like you were having so much fun last Christmas?" Robin continued on despite Nami's abjection.

"That was a snowball fight! We were fighting! Luffy was the one who started that stupid bet." Nami said, completely vexed by the entire course of events and glared at her two friends who had begun to shrewdly discuss the details and ignore her on the side.

"Sounds juicy. What happened?" Nojiko prompted.

"Luffy wanted to start a snowball fight but the others wouldn't let him as nobody wanted to get cold. Usopp said he wouldn't do it even if he paid him and when Luffy asked who would Zoro pointed out Nami. Luffy then bet Nami she wouldn't dare to throw one at Trafalgar-san. She disagreed at first until Luffy called her chicken and she got angry and packed a huge one to throw at Luffy. He ducked, of course, and it hit Trafalgar-san in the face."

Nojiko burst out into laughter at this point while Nami wallowed in her pillows of misery.

"So how did it turn into a snowball fight between those two?"

"Trafalgar-san was shocked at first and he asked in this serious voice who did it. Luffy chose that moment to egg them on, saying he wanted a snowball fight between Trafalgar-san's friends and us. Trafalgar-san then asked who threw the first one and Luffy pointed to Nami. Trafalgar-san turned back to his group and Nami and Luffy were caught in an argument when a huge snowball hit them both. When she turned around, Trafalgar-san was pretending nothing was wrong and simply stated that they were now even."

Nojiko was bent over with giggles by then. "Let me guess, knowing our hot-headed friend, she went all She-Hulk and started raining him with snowballs."

"Please kill me now." Nami pleaded in mortification with her head buried in her pillow.

Robin chuckled and continued recounting the event. "Luffy claimed he and Nami would surely win and that unfortunately appealed to Trafalgar-san's competitive side. Bepo-san, Shachi-san and Penguin-san then started one with Luffy and he managed to drag Franky, Chopper and Usopp into it. But Trafalgar-san and Nami mostly fought one on one."

"So who won in the end?" Nojiko said, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes.

"You could say it was a tie, and Trafalgar-san threatened that they would finish it later." Robin finished with a serene smile.

"Are you guys done having your fun at my expense? I ought to charge you for that you know." Nami said, interrupting her two friends. "Fine. Think whatever you want. I can honestly tell you I do not like Tora- I mean, _Trafalgar-san, _that way. He is not my type and I am most definitely not his. Now can we move on to a better topic-"

She stopped abruptly when Bad Reputation started playing out of the blue from a corner of the room.

"Isn't that your phone, Nami?" Robin pointed out.

Nami rose to pick up her cellphone from where it had been buried underneath the makeshift pile of pillows and blankets. One look at the caller ID had her face blanched whiter than Lafitte with mime makeup on.

_Oh my god. This isn't happening to me, _she thought in mortification, and quickly rejected the call.

"Who was it Nami?" Nojiko asked when she noticed Nami's stiff posture.

"Oh er, that was nobody! Just some irritating salesman I had to block," She replied brightly with a false smile. "Now, where were we-"

Her phone rudely cut her off again and she rejected the call once more.

"Ok, so what are-" The phone rang again and her nerves were beginning to fizzle like Mentos in boiling Coke.

"Why don't you just block it or tell him off?" Nojiko suggested.

_Because if I did I would never hear the end of it and it would serve the opposite effect, _Nami thought furiously. She was about to shut off her phone when a message popped up.

"Is everything ok, Nami? You're looking a little…flushed." Robin observed.

"It's nothing, just an irritating classmate of mine. Sorry about that, do you mind if I…" Nami trailed off and was relieved when both her friends shrugged at her and continued talking on their own.

_Speak of the devil. I swear to god. _She clicked on the message after a second's worth of hesitation.

**I know you aren't busy. Stop rejecting my calls. **

**- T. Law**

She cursed silently and furiously typed back.

**Yes I am busy here. Why are you calling me? What do you want?**

**- Nami**

His response was equally fast and to the point.

**You ignored our study session at 7 tonight. I need your copy of the class notes for mid terms next week. Bepo accidentally drenched mine. I will be in the usual place.**

**- T. Law**

_That self-righteous, arrogant jerk! _She thought, positively fuming now as her fingers furiously jabbed her poor keypad.

**I already told you last week my friends were coming over and I'm skipping study session today! Can't you just wait till tomorrow? It's still days to mid terms and knowing you, that wouldn't even matter. **

**- Nami**

A few minutes passed with no reply from him and she was half relieved, half apprehensive that she had pissed him off somehow when her phone rang ominously for the third time. She was beginning to relate to one of those sad haunted souls in that Ring movie Robin had made her watch once.

Rejecting the call, she glanced over at Nojiko and Robin and was glad that they paid her no notice. Another message popped up threateningly.

**Do that again and you will live to regret it. Now pick up the call or you'll be answering your door in 15 minutes.**

**- T. Law**

Hiding her anger behind a wide smile, Nami called out to Robin and Nojiko. "I'm stepping out for a short phone call, be back later!"

Once the door was carefully shut behind her and she had wandered out into the confines of the bathroom away from Robin's eavesdropping abilities, Nami hit the call button. He picked up in less than two seconds.

"Evening, Nami-ya." Came his languid, dusky voice from her cell phone.

"Trafalgar-san," she said in a calm imitation of Robin. She silently smirked when he paused on the other end, imagining his confused expression.

"Nami-ya," he said, the confidence returning full force in his tone. "Why did you reject my calls?"

She bit her lip, trying to think up a good lie before he could detect her discomfort. "I was busy with my friends. I have to get back to them quick so if you don't mind-"

"Was there a reason why you couldn't answer my calls for a couple of minutes when you were with your friends?"

_Yes, because they were talking about you, you insufferable asshole!_

"There is no obligation for me to answer any of your calls in the first place. I'm only calling you now out of common courtesy." She hissed into the receiver.

She thought she could hear a slight huff of amused laughter at the other end but put it down to her own frazzled nerves.

"Are your friends staying over?" He asked.

She frowned, feeling a bit on edge. "Why do you want to know? What does it matter to you?"

When he spoke his voice was casually chastising as if he were speaking to a child. It made her blood vessels pulse in irritation. "Because, I need to know if I'll have to stop over at your place or if you're able to make a short trip down to pass me the notes for copying."

"No! Don't come over!" she exclaimed, panicking a bit and then hurriedly calmed herself down so as not to arouse his suspicions. "I mean, my friends are staying over so it might be a little awkward if they see you. I'm free tomorrow morning, so why don't I meet you tomorrow instead?"

He paused for a short while and when he spoke his tone was too inquisitive for her liking. She swore she could almost hear the smirk plastered all over his voice.

"I see. Am I right to say I might catch you in a…compromising situation if I were to turn up on your doorstep, say in - five minutes time?"

"WHAT!" Nami couldn't hold back the scream that burst forth from her lungs. _Oh shit, _she thought, peering out at her bedroom door. Robin and Nojiko surely would have heard _that_.

Clutching her phone so hard she was convinced it might break within her grasp, she spoke into it harshly, every word dripping with venomous threat.

"Trafalgar. Law. Turn. Back. This. Instant."

She was completely sure she could hear his hushed laugh at her this time.

"Listen, you – you _insufferable bastard_, you come up to my house and _ring that doorbell one time _and I swear to god I will personally make sure you can _kiss goodbye the idea of even being able to drag yourself back home_."

"Two and a half minutes," came the gleefully sadistic reply.

"You are enjoying this aren't you. Oh whatever, hold on-" Gritting her teeth and frustrated beyond relief, Nami wrenched open her bedroom door to the shock of both Nojiko and Robin, made a nose dive for her psychology notes and scrambled out the door with a "YouguysstayhereI'llberightback_don'tcomeout_", all within the timespan of one and a half minutes flat.

"21, 20, 19-" _The fucking bastard was actually beginning a countdown. _

"Where are my keys where are my keys!" Nami panicked under her breath as she scurried around the living room in the dark grabbing at cabinets, shoes, bags and overturning coat pockets for her godforsaken keys.

"12, 11, 10-"

Her hands felt something small, hard and cold underneath the sofa – only god knew how it had ended up there – and she grabbed onto it with her dear life. She could almost hear the herald of angel song in her head at the breathtaking sight of her home keys, if it weren't for the devil's voice in her ear.

"9-8-7-"

"Go fuck yourself, Trafalgar Law." She said, hissing into the phone as her hands fumbled with the lock.

"5-4-3-"

She had barely thrown herself outside her house and slammed the door behind her when she found herself face to face with the smirking figure of Trafalgar Law standing with his finger poised to ring her doorbell.

"One." He said softly, and the grin that spread itself across his face made her hair stand on end in outright vexation and inner turmoil.

"You win this round, Miss Nami." He said, stating the fact with the same eerie smile he had on his face after last Christmas' snowball fight.

He didn't flinch when she all but grabbed him by the collar and began pulling him to the shadier side of her apartment. Robin and Nojiko did NOT need to see her together with this bastard, especially not after the night's ironic events.

When they were both standing obscured in the shadows cast behind the dim overhead lamps, she turned to face him with all the fury she could muster and flung her stack of notes at him.

She could feel her temperature rising as he went ahead to flip through her notes carelessly before stacking them together neatly to carry in one arm.

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" He said to her nonchalantly, the spark never once leaving his eyes.

"I-I can't even-" Nami said, flinging her arms up in a sort of angry resignation. She silently fumed for several seconds to which he calmly waited for another one of her infamous explosions. She could swear the bastard seemed mildly disappointed when it never came.

"I should never have invited you along with any of the others to my house." She ended up saying lamely and shot him a death glare when he did nothing but tilt his head to one side urging her to continue her tirade.

"That, and I should have completely _annihilated_ you with those snowballs when I had the chance." She added angrily.

He relaxed, leaning back against the scuffed brick walls and folded his arms, all the while continuing to gaze at her in smug amusement.

"It wouldn't have helped. I know where you live." He said lightly.

She wasn't even going to ask how the bastard would have figured that out. He probably would have shrugged and said something along the obscure lines of 'Yellow Pages' or whatever.

"Why on earth could you _not wait_ another eleven hours to get my goddamned notes!" She snapped at him.

He regarded her coolly before replying. "You could have avoided this altogether if you had picked up your phone call. And…" He said, leaning forwards a bit to intimidate her. "If you had made the trip down and hadn't acted like you were trying to hide something, none of this would be necessary."

She decided she was having none of his bullshit. "What makes you think I was hiding something, no, wait. It's none of your business what I choose to do or not to do-"

"Then I presume you would have had no problem with me coming over to collect your notes at your own personal convenience." He said in a sardonic drawl.

"_No_," she hissed. "I had _not_ agreed to it and yet you came all the way here anyway. I really should just send you off without them on a wasted trip."

"Yet you ran out in such a rush with them anyway like you had seven devils on your trail. It's not like you to be so reckless, Nami-ya." He said, looking down at her in mock disappointment.

"Oh it's only one devil. And he's standing right before me." Nami said evenly.

His response was to shoot her the devil's grin himself.

Their mutual stare down was interrupted when her phone rang for the fourth time that night. Ignoring him, she answered her phone after glancing at the caller ID. It was Nojiko.

"Nami! Where are you? Robin and I couldn't find you in the house after you hurriedly ran out. Is everything ok?" Her sister's concerned tone questioned on the other end.

"Hey, it's alright I'm fine, I had to deal with an annoying classmate of mine. Sorry about that." She said gently, not wanting to worry her sister. "I'm near my apartment, so I'll be back soon."

"Do you need me to come fetch you?" Nojiko asked.

"No," Nami replied hastily. "It's ok, just…give me a few minutes. See you. Bye."

Hanging up, she returned her frosty glare to Law, who had clearly been listening in on her conversation.

"Well, it's been an awful night meeting you. Now if you'll excuse me, I won't see you again tomorrow." She said curtly.

"The pleasure's mutual, Nami-ya. But contrary to your belief, I will be seeing you tomorrow at nine, since our study session's been postponed tonight thanks to your busy schedule." He said, pushing himself off from the wall and straightening to leave.

"Says who? I'm not going, you can turn up by yourself and entertain yourself tomorrow for all I care. Since when were you such a model student? It's not like you need it anyway." Nami said, narrowing her eyes at him. The guy could practically ace a test simply by rolling a pen.

"As much as I'm honored by what you think of my studying capabilities, I do not have eidetic memory and I'm fairly certain you don't either. Unless you wish to tell me you have already memorized all thirty chapters' worth of notes by now?" He said, waving the thick stack of notes in her face. "Don't you need this back, Nami-ya?"

"O-of course you can return me those tomorrow," Nami said, slightly reddened by how she had forgotten the important fact of getting back her notes amidst the frenzy of the night. Although she felt the sight of him to be unbearable right then, her traitorous brain chided her that study sessions were more important than her wish to pummel him straight into the ground.

"Fine. I'll see you tomorrow, same place." She said, shoving him off onto the sidewalk. She had to get him away from here before anything worse happened knowing her luck.

"I'll be sure to ring the doorbell tomorrow." He said and began strolling at his own torturously slow, leisurely pace down the street.

"Alright- NO! Idiot, I meant same place in the college study rooms!" She yelled after him. "You hear me! Don't you dare show up at my house again without my permission!"

Grumbling to herself, Nami walked back to her porch. "Insufferable bastard. Can he walk any slower."

She was about to place her hand on the doorknob when the door swung open to reveal Robin and Nojiko behind it.

"Oh Nami, there you are! We heard voices and you yelling so we were about to head out looking for you. Who's that walking away from your house?" Nojiko asked, pointing to the subject of Nami's complete horror who was still walking slowly and plainly in view on the streets.

She prayed a car would run over him. Or herself.

"Oh my, isn't that Trafalgar-san," Robin said gazing at Nami with her infuriating, knowing smile. "Was he the one who had been calling you? And to think he came all the way here by himself too."

"Isn't that such a coincidence? We were just talking about him too!" Nojiko said, eyes twinkling with a look that implied there was no way in hell she was going to wriggle her way out of this one. "What did he call you out here for?"

She yanked them back indoors before they attracted the attention of Law. "It's not what you think! Seriously!" She said with pleading eyes.

"Re-a-lly…" Nojiko said as she regarded her sister. "Out with it. Now."

"There's seriously nothing going on- Ugh! He called about borrowing class notes from me!" Nami exclaimed.

"On a Friday night?" Nojiko asked.

"We have study sessions! And I had cancelled this one-"

"So he came all the way over just to collect class notes from you." Robin said in a dubious tone.

"He told me to bring the notes down and I told him no so he came over by himself! End of story!"

"And he couldn't wait until tomorrow…why?" Nojiko pressed on.

"Trafalgar-san does not strike me as the studious type." Robin commented.

"How would I know the inner workings of his twisted mind! The guy's a psychopath!"

"And yet you agreed to meet him out at night, alone." Robin pointed out.

"Well, it's not like he's a fucking murderer! He's probably just pissed off I ignored our study session since he has to figure out the textbook and class notes by himself-"

"Wait, the two of you have study sessions together, alone?" Nojiko asked excitedly.

"I've never heard you mentioning that particular detail before." Robin said, looking at her with light disapproval.

"It was supposed to be a five people group! But two of them never turn up and the other dropped out of the elective – why am I even explaining all this to you! I've nothing to hide and there's nothing between us."

"Then why did you meet him secretly outside?" Nojiko asked in confusion.

"Oh. My. God." Nami seethed, wanting to pull her hair out. "Because it would have been awkward after we had just been talking about him and _you two_ would jump to conclusions and interrogate me like what you are doing _right now_!"

"So…there's really nothing going on between the two of you?" Nojiko asked after a moment's silence.

"YES! NO! I mean _no_ there isn't anything going on between us, so you can now wipe that satisfied smirk off your faces." Nami said glaring at both Nojiko's and Robin's innocent expressions.

"That's a shame then. If you don't mind me asking, what do you think of him?" Nojiko asked.

Nami sighed wearily. "If you must know, dear sister, he is the one of the most insufferable, arrogant, conceited, sadistic, psychopathic assholes I have ever met and he never stops giving me hell. So no, no way in hell will I like him that way."

"Wanna bet on it?" Nojiko joked, earning herself a death glare from Nami.

"I'm just kidding! Let's talk about something, or rather someone else." Nojiko said and nudged Robin lightly in the arm. "How's the wedding preparations coming along, Robin?"

As the trio divulged in safer topics, Nami relaxed into the flow of conversations encompassing the slumbering night, grateful that a certain name no longer cropped up. Whilst laying back in the comfort of her pillows and listening to Nojiko prattle away on her latest endeavours, she decided to herself that the next time they held a girl's night, they were staying clear away from her home_. _

More importantly, she was going to keep a hell's radius worth of distance away from Trafalgar Law after midterms.


	2. Vicious

**Disclaimer:** If I owned One Piece, I'd add in a cockroach cockroach fruit which will result in Zoro, Luffy and Sanji wondering how the hell they aren't able to kill the damn thing.

**A/N:** I wanted to try my hand at something darker, in this AU (sorry I can't come up with a decent plot for canon pieces as Oda is maneuvering the story at such high speeds I doubt I'd keep up), it's up to you if Law and Nami are assassins/hitmen/mafia/contract killers, etc. This is either a oneshot or headcanon, I'm really just experimenting for now.

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**Vicious:**

It gives him a sick thrill the way her hands get tainted with blood. She wasn't the type to kill in cold blood, yet for some viciously perverse reason, she was. It amazes him every time her hands do not shake after the pull of the trigger or trust of the blade. Her eyes remain focused and burning, simmering with a silent rage. Their filthy line of work didn't suit her but the blood looked damn good dirtying her skin. What he likes better is the way she holds herself together and bites down on her lip hard enough to draw blood so as not to cry out in her sleep at night whenever she knows he is in the vicinity. She never gives him the satisfaction of seeing her broken and weak if she can help it.

He had never thought he would meet another with as vicious a streak as himself. She was never openly cruel or coldly ruthless. But he sees the smoldering, angry heat behind her eyes beneath her composed, slightly trembling façade. There is a vicious streak in her whenever she is backed up against the wall and there is no room left for flight. She will kill, take up any job given enough incentive or what he suspected was a deeper, darker motive of untold vengeance. She wasn't the vengeful type, yet somehow life had forced her down that road to hell.

Her secrets intrigue him, but her contradictory, unpredictable reactions excite him more. He likes to prod and peel away her scabs to see her bleed. Just when he thinks she will break, she hardens, and whenever he thinks he's got the upper hand, she manages to one-up him with her manipulative ways. He knows that she is intimidated, distrustful, and wary of him and enjoys unsettling her with his uncomfortable presence. He likes how she would snap back, smile deviously at him, pretend to ignore him, or threaten to shoot his brains out the next time his back is turned. She says she will kill him one day too, and he laughs.

She tells him she hates him and he likes the way she spits it out like it's a dirty word prescribed only to him alone. He didn't care for love but hate was absolute, hate was certain. So long as she hated him, he was the sole center of her focus and nobody else except their common enemy.

She goes out of her way to rebel against him, yet she reluctantly shares a jaded kind of trust with him. He enjoys their heated arguments and how only he knows what buttons to push to fire her up. What he doesn't expect but pleases him more is how she retaliates with equal, if not double, the ferocity.

The first time he tried to kiss her he had to pin her down bodily on the operating table while she kicked and snarled at him despite still bleeding from her bullet wound. She bit him hard right then and threatened to bite his face off next if he tried anything else in that soft, deadly tone of hers. The sight of his blood on her lip does nothing but incite him further.

It amuses him how she is all fierce heat and wild scratches at night and coldly ignorant of him the next morning. Despite her open declarations of her hatred of him, they find each risking life and limb for the other's neck. They trust each other for mutual survival, nothing else, both having a non-spoken agreement of watching each other's backs.

This wasn't about love, it was about survival and an unavoidable trust, and to survive long enough to end their mission both had to be alive. What is never once mentioned is how they will only ever trust one another with their lives.

They balance each other out well, she the fire to his ice, and over time both had thawed into a strange, twisted sort of partnership. In their vicious line of work, that was as good as it would ever get. They were like ships passing in the night, until the inevitable crash.

Their paths had crossed with a common goal and had ended with a single gunshot and the impossible fall of a dreaded empire. He recognizes the fleeting look of long suffering relief and the crushing light of satisfaction in her eyes to be the same mirrored in his. Whoever said revenge isn't sweet was right. It is downright bitter but it hits all the right bruised and scabbed over spots.

As they lay in the moment of mutual silence and unspoken words, amongst fallen rubble and half drawn breaths, they share two sides of a broken, twisted grin at the finality of it all.

"Where will you be headed to after this?" He finds himself asking.

"I don't know. Anywhere but here, preferably someplace far, far away from this wreckage." She says and looks at him with her utterly exhausted, but first genuine smile. "Why? You thinking of joining? I'm officially retiring from this line of work."

He can only laugh at her words as they get up together to walk out of the dark, crumpled ruins and into the fresh morning sunlight of a new day reborn.


End file.
